New mask for instantly detecting coronavirus
Researchers at MIT and Harvard develop a mask that lights up when contacted by Covid-19.
Imagine wearing a facial mask that protects you not only from thecoronavirusBut also allows you to know when you are in contact with Covid-19 contagion. It may not be something that is so far.
Harvard and MIT researchers develop afacial mask This allows people to know when it's in contact with the coronavirus by brilliant. The idea of the development mask is quite simple: whenever the material used in the mask is in contact with a vapor containing theCOVID-19 CONTAGION, the user is alerted with a fluorescent signal.
Dr.Jim Collins is a bioengineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and initially proposed the idea of a "factorocalary mask of diagnosis" during the Ebola epidemic in 2014. Work with researchers near Harvard, they published Research in 2016 to treat the Zika virus. Now, in 2020, their work seems remarkably attended by the coronavirus pandemic that has medical experts and public health experts.
In a Q & A with theAllen InstituteCollins specifically explained how, when people speak, a good amount of steam is issued. "If you are infected, you also give up viral particles, not only in coughing and tightening, but also when you speak, in small droplets and steam," Collins explained. "The notion is if you wear a mask, you can have a reading of 2 to 3 hours on the point of whether you are infected. For example, having the design of the mask, give a fluorescence output in the case of 'a positive positive. Test. "
When asked how it would work, Collins stated that the protection mask could produce a fluorescence signal or the one that "could be detected by a single device and maintained." Professor Mit added: "If the mask produces a fluorescence signal, the protocol would probably be [to] contact your doctor, as well as to start immediately to self-isolate."
Collins also revealed that his team also experiments with the design: "At the moment, the laboratory debates whether to incorporate sensors inside a mask or develop a module that can be attached to any free-up mask. " Although Collins notes that the current project of its laboratory is in "very early stages", but the results have been promising.
In an interview withInternal business community, Collins noted the practical application of hismask. "As we open our transit system, you can imagine being used at airports as we go to safety because we are waiting to go up on an airplane," Collins said. "You or myself could use it on the path of work and work. Hospitals could use it for patients when they enter or wait in the waiting room as an WHO-infected pre-screen . "